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Texas

Warn bosses: No remarks about employee age

12/01/2010

Don’t panic if you find out that a supervisor has made age-related comments. Instead, use the incident as a teaching moment. Instruct all managers and supervisors that they should view negative comments about age the same way they view comments based on sex, race, disability and other protected classification stereotyping.

Can we fire an employee for refusing to take a lie detector test?

11/15/2010
Q. One of our employees filed a sexual harassment complaint against another worker. After interviewing both parties, we are unable to resolve the credibility conflict. We asked the accused co-worker to take a polygraph exam, but he refused. Can we fire the employee for refusing to take the lie detector test?

The best defense against bias lawsuits: Equal treatment for all your employees

11/15/2010
An employee who thinks her supervisor is out to get her may be on the lookout for perceived discrimination. She can turn a negative performance appraisal into a bias lawsuit. The only way to prepare for surprise lawsuits is to consistently treat all employees alike and document that fair treatment. For example, performance evaluations should include as many objective measures as possible, making it easier to compare employees.

Baytown falls victim to growing age bias lawsuit trend

11/15/2010
Former Baytown municipal employee Richard Hensley is suing the city, arguing that a negative performance appraisal he received reflects a pattern of discrimination against older workers. The lawsuit argues that the city of Baytown routinely replaces older employees with younger, unqualified replacements.

How to Collect Employee Medical Info Under New FMLA Rules

11/10/2010
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What’s the Texas law on voting leave?

11/01/2010
Q. We have had a hard time determining whether we must allow employees to miss work so they can vote? So this isn’t a problem in 2012, what rules must we follow?

What kind of information are we required to give participants in our health insurance plan?

11/01/2010
Q. We just received a letter from an employee who has requested a copy of our medical plan. Are we required to provide this information to her?

How responsible is a parent company for an action filed against a subsidiary company?

11/01/2010
Q. A former employee has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against one of my company’s subsidiaries. The suit names both the subsidiary and us—the parent company—as the responsible employers. Isn’t this charge just the subsidiary’s problem and not ours?

Supremes at work: 8 key employment law cases on docket

11/01/2010

Can the federal government require contract employees to disclose their use of illegal drugs? Can states sanction employers that knowingly hire unauthorized aliens? The U.S. Supreme Court will decide these and other issues in its new term, which began in October.

Former Bells bank worker files age discrimination suit

11/01/2010
A former employee of First Bells Bankshares in Bells, north of Dallas, has filed a discrimination lawsuit alleging that the Texas bank fired her after she refused to be demoted.